tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post6394267356762279163..comments2024-03-25T09:11:17.877-07:00Comments on The Curious Wavefunction: Pity the postdocWavefunctionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14993805391653267639noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-37341973580987174842014-03-22T11:01:37.644-07:002014-03-22T11:01:37.644-07:00Yes, that's a very sound suggestion. Most grad...Yes, that's a very sound suggestion. Most grad students go on to postdocs almost as automatons since they don't know what else they can do to remain connected to science. They don't even know if they really want to do science in the first place, so some outside experience would indeed be valuable.Wavefunctionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14993805391653267639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-49769110380679567472014-03-22T11:00:08.495-07:002014-03-22T11:00:08.495-07:00You hit it on the head. I think Stephan said it be...You hit it on the head. I think Stephan said it best when she quipped that it's always in professors' best interests to tell their students and postdocs that everything is fine with their lives. That's where having outside experts - once their are allowed to breach the moat, of course - expose students and postdocs to other world views becomes so critical. But it's a firmly entrenched system with deep roots that feeds on itself, so any changes are going to be excruciatingly slow. Reducing the intake of new grad students certainly seems to be as good a starting point as any.Wavefunctionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14993805391653267639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-35651759247051168712014-03-20T20:45:26.756-07:002014-03-20T20:45:26.756-07:00What seems to be unasked is why there are so many ...What seems to be unasked is why there are so many people in the system in the first place, and why they are so unprepared for the world. Grad students and postdocs are adults, and have responsibilities for their own development, but they have been allegedly mentored and taught by people with a clue about how things work and what is needed, but do not evidence any such education. Instead, they are taught to perform tasks appropriate for a system that doesn't have opportunities for them, and given limited opportunity to develop skills that might be useful elsewhere. <br /><br />I think the problem is not so much the expectations that PhD grads have, but that their training and mentorship seems in lots of cases to place their well-being, scientific development, and future prospects behind nearly everything else. Research and publications, the benefits of which accrue mostly to others, are the primary concerns, with things like safety and the future pretty secondary to them. When there was an obvious path to a future career from school, people could tolerate these conditions, but now that there is not, and the training they have gotten and taken and the sunk costs they have ill fit them to make a career of their own, they become intolerable. Hapnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-24768300169971395922014-03-19T18:34:54.930-07:002014-03-19T18:34:54.930-07:00Having spent a fair bit of time in the academia an...Having spent a fair bit of time in the academia and some outside, I have often thought that the best thing universities could do would be to encourage people to take 1-2 year stints outside the hallowed walls before returning for an additional degree, similar to the way business schools encourage people to try to start a few companies before doing a business degree. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-56163478904970296242014-03-12T07:48:36.406-07:002014-03-12T07:48:36.406-07:00Viva la revoluciĆ³n!Viva la revoluciĆ³n!Wavefunctionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14993805391653267639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-58231416429286369022014-03-11T18:00:43.555-07:002014-03-11T18:00:43.555-07:00Face it, academia is the last Feudal system left s...Face it, academia is the last Feudal system left standing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com